How to sign up for the Starbound beta? Do I have to preorder it to play the game now?

Does anyone know how I can beta test this new Starbound game for free? It looks really good, I've been a fan of Minecraft as well as Terraria for some time now and this game is very similar (i think?) to these games. Is there any way that I can play Starbound now for free? How do I download it on Steam? I see an option to pay for the game to get early access, but is there a way to get a beta key and test it for free? Should I email the game developers?

There's a way to play Starbound for free actually! There's currently a beta giveaway going on for this game. Cuddlefish very briefly gave away beta keys for Starbound, however you can no longer sign up. The codes will still work though, they will allow you to download and play Starbound on steam. I got one of these gift codes and it worked for me, this is what i did to play Starbound now. Check here:

http://starboundgiveaway.blogspot.com/

If there are still some codes available there, you can get one and add it to your steam account. Once you get a beta key for Starbound you will be able to download and install the game. Its very easy to play for free. Hope this helps you.